Seasons of Z (Book 3): Dead Summer Read online

  Seasons of Z:

  Book Three Dead Summer

  Seasons of Z Book Three : Dead Summer by Aline Riva & Jay Jarvis

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  Seasons of Z Book Three: Dead Summer

  © Aline Riva 2020

  ©Jay Jarvis 2020

  The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

  Seasons of Z:

  Book Three Dead Summer

  Chapter 1

  The heavy wooden barriers that surrounded the entrance to what was left of the coastal town were high and strong, covering the metal fencing with its iron rails almost entirely. The watchtower looked sturdy. Clearly, the people who had built this fortress had known what they were doing. And the sea rolled to shore on calm water just beyond a slope that led to the sea wall. The sun was bright and gulls dipped and weaved in flutters of white against deep blue as salt carried on the air. It was all so deceptively peaceful, considering the whole world was at war with the undead.

  And as the small convoy stopped at the closed gates, Alex kept the engine running as he halted his bike, as Sage stopped the car and turned off the ignition. Alex wished she had not done that – but it was too late for doubts now. In the van alongside him, River had shut off the engine as soon he had slowed the bike. And here they were, at the gates of a strange place, faced by people they didn't know – people armed with guns. Alex shot a nervous look to River as she got out of the car.

  “Not everyone is crazy,” she reminded him in a low voice, as she approached the two armed guards who kept their weapons lowered as she began to speak with them.

  Alex wasn't the only one on edge as Sage got out of the car and walked over to join River. In the back of the car, Angel gave a wail as Mickey comforted her, holding her bundled up in his coat as she shivered and her bitten arm throbbed as Joy sat in the front, ready for a confrontation. Joy didn't think it could end any other way. If there was a community here who had survived the outbreak and managed to rebuild, they would not want a kid with a zombie bite rolling up at their doorstep...

  Mickey was breaking into a sweat as he sat there cradling that little girl whose situation broke his heart. He was under no illusions, here, after the undead had decimated the population, they wouldn't think twice about putting a bullet in anyone who was infected, even a small child like Angel... But maybe he and Joy could buy her a little time – at least, until she turned. Joy spoke up from the front.

  “There's no change in her condition?”

  “No, she's still in pain, cold and sweating... she opened her eyes a minute ago and looked up at me. She's not a zombie yet.”

  Joy paused for thought.

  “Sometimes, people take days to change. Others take half an hour or less. It takes everyone differently. Maybe she won't change yet...”

  “Maybe not for a couple of days,” Mickey replied, and as Joy looked back at him they both shared the same thought, and Joy voiced it aloud:

  “Let's hope the others have kept their mouths shut about Angel. Maybe we can keep her going for a few days, nothing is impossible – even in the early days of the virus, I remember last Autumn when it started, some people changed right away and others took days, I've seen it, Mickey! We can do this. Let's give her a bit more time, somewhere more comfortable than cramped in the back of a car.”

  Mickey looked down at the child in his arms and nodded.

  “She needs a warm bed,” he replied, “Maybe if we take really good care of her she might last much longer than we first thought.”

  He had a hopeful look in his eyes as he met her gaze. Joy couldn't bring herself to be so cruel as to encourage that hope.

  “She might have a couple of days, but no more than that,” she told him quietly.

  At the gates, Alex stood there watching suspiciously as River and Sage spoke with the guards. He guessed after what he had been through and witnessed at Rainhill house that anything bad was possible when it came to strangers, or maybe it was just that his trust in those who had survived the outbreak had been dented. Meeting Mickey and the others had helped, but a new situation like this was a different matter. These strangers seemed very relaxed, too relaxed, there was definitely something going on they didn't know about, and he was glad he was armed...

  As River stood beside Alex, they were talking to Alice and Devan. Alice was short, curvy and pale with long red hair, a complete contrast to Devan's dark skin and athletic build. They were both no older than eighteen and with his dark jeans and clean shoes and her in a light summer dress with a floral headband in her hair, it was hard to believe the apocalypse had even touched this town...

  “So,” Devan said with a smile, “It's always good to welcome new people – we've had a few come this way in the past few weeks. How many of you are there?”

  River gave that answer.

  “ Chris – he's in the van,” and she gestured to the van, Chris heard his name through the open window and gave a casual wave, “Sage has a little sister, Poppy. She's in the back of the van. You've met Alex. And... Joy and Mickey are in the car with Angel.”

  She and Sage exchanged a glance as a wail came from the car and Mickey cradled the young child, speaking softly to her.

  “Well,” Devan added, “You're most welcome here. The outbreak killed off a lot of this town, we saved around a third of it and got the barriers up before it became uncontrollable... I have people patrolling the perimeter on a regular basis, we have weapons, we were fortunate enough to have a few people bringing the heavy guns in when the army shipped out and left supplies behind. But, if you want to share what you have, we appreciate it – but we don't want to take from you if you're going to move on and need it.”

  “You might want to stay,” Alice added with a smile, “It's okay once you get past these gates – this is our safe zone.”

  Then they both looked towards the car as the small child gave another wail.

  “Is she alright?” asked Devan.

  Sage exchanged a glance with River and Alex...they were all thinking along the same lines here – the news had to come from Joy and Mickey, they were determined to take responsibility for Angel, and to suddenly blurt out that they had a bitten child with them, might see this friendly greeting from the people at the gate turn very bad very quickly... River looked to the car and saw Joy mutter something to Mickey that looked like, Let's go, Mickey...

  Devan and Alice looked to Sage and Joy, then to Alex, who glanced back at Sage. This was difficult. No one wanted to cover up the truth, or to be the one to say it... The car door opened and Joy got out. Then she opened the back door and helped Mickey out as he carried Angel in his arms, shivering and wrapped in his coat.

  “I'm Mickey, this is Joy and this,” he held the child in his arms protectively, “Is our daughter Angel...”

  “What's wrong with her?” asked Alice.

  Everyone looked at Mickey. He looked back at Alice and Devan and replied at once.

  “She has flu.”

  “What?” whispered Chris as he leaned out the open window, trying to catch the flow of conversation.

  “We understand if you don't want them coming in, with Angel having flu,” Sage replied, casting Mickey a stern look.

  The back of the van opene
d up and Poppy climbed out. She saw the adults standing around and everyone seemed friendly, so she hurried over to Sage.

  “Hello,” she said politely, “I'm Poppy, Sage is my sister.”

  And just then as Mickey walked stiffly over to join them as Joy walked alongside him, and Angel gave a low whine of pain and flung her arm free from the coat as the bite in her flesh glistened under summer sunshine.

  “No...” Joy's eyes went wide.

  Sage and River exchanged a horrified glance. This was going wrong, and it could only end badly. Alex tensed, ready to reach for his gun.

  “I'm sorry!” Joy said as she hurried closer and Mickey stood back with the child in his arms, “It's like this: She's not our daughter, we found her in an abandoned supermarket. Her parents were dead. She was fine, and she would have stayed fine if we hadn't stopped on the road... she got bitten. We won't come in, let everyone else through, leave us outside with Angel. She's got no one and we don't want to shoot her until we have to! She's just a child!”

  Joy's voice had become tearful.

  “I'm so sorry,” River added as she looked to Alice and Devan.

  Mickey stood there cradling Angel.

  “I will take responsibility when the time comes.”

  “And she's not turned yet. We won't let you shoot her,” Alex added.

  “Whoa, slow down!” Devan exclaimed, holding his hands up briefly as he gestured for calm, looking to the distraught group of travellers.

  Chris had just got out of the van, with his weapon at his wide.

  “If it's a problem, River will take Joy and Mickey and the kid and drive them off a mile from here until it's over,” he said, “But we will take care of Angel. No one's putting a bullet in her head while she's still as human as the rest of us!”

  Alice and Devan exchanged a glance.

  “They don't know,” said Alice.

  “Know what?” Joy demanded.

  “All I know, is no one is hurting this kid!” Mickey said defensively as he held Angel a little tighter and the child gave a whine as blood ran from her bitten arm.

  “We won't hurt her,” said Alice as she looked at him intently, “Stop getting worked up, you'll make the little girl upset.”

  Mickey looked at her in surprise.

  “You don't want to shoot her?”

  “Of course not!”

  Devan beckoned to Mickey, who carried Angel over to join the others, then he stepped closer and reached for the coat, pulling it back from her face as she turned away, pressing her head against Mickey's shirt to shield her eyes from the light as her arm throbbed and her head throbbed too.

  “What bit her?” Devan asked.

  Joy and Mickey exchanged a look of disbelief.

  “It's the sodding zombie apocalypse, what do you think bit her?” Joy said angrily.

  “Yes, yes – a zombie – but what kind?”

  “The dead kind!” Mickey snapped, “And she's in the middle of turning into a zombie too, why the stupid questions?”

  “I don't think you know they're changing?”

  “The zombies?” said Joy.

  Devan nodded.

  “Yes, the zombies,” he confirmed.

  Alice spoke up as she stood beside him.

  “Honestly, once you understand, all this confusion will be over. There are basically two types of zombie now – the ones who have the long razor teeth -”

  “We call those the snappy snappers,” added Devan, “because they're fast and one bite and you're as good as dead.”

  “Snappy snappers?” Joy repeated looking at him in confusion.

  “And then there's the slowie snappers,” explained Devan, “Sometimes, they're winter zombies that have shed their teeth, or they might be recently turned and retain their human teeth – if you get a bite from one of those, it will make you sick, but you won't die and you definitely won't become a zombie. The virus is evolving and they are evolving with it. Turning slower, easier to kill and more importantly, easier to avoid.”

  Joy's eyes had slowly widened. She looked at Mickey, who blinked away tears.

  “Angel was bitten by a zombie with human teeth. It was slower than the kind we've recently encountered. Are you saying she's not going to turn into one of those things?”

  “Yes,” Devan said with a smile, then the pushed up the arm of his t shirt to show off a scar.

  “I got bitten two weeks ago.”

  Joy was staring at the healing scar.

  “It bit you?”

  “And I'm here to tell the tale.”

  “I've been bitten three times,” added Alice, and Devan laughed.

  “That's because you went up to his Lordship's battlefield! He really needs to start locking those gates up. Some of them are still rabid -”

  “What are you talking about?” River asked.

  “The guy who owns Featherstone Manor. It's one mile into our safe zone and his land is fenced, he let us fence it off – then he put a bloody gate in it so he can play his war games!”

  “He used to do world war one reconstructions,” added Alice, “But since all this happened, him and his enthusiasts gather three times a week to kill the real enemy – they open the gates, let them in and the battle commences.”

  “And it needs to stop,” Devan reminded her, then he quickly changed the subject, “Don't worry about Angel. She needs rest, clean and dress the bite and she'll soon be feel better. The slowies can't kill you – unless one crept up and bit your throat - and their bite can't turn you. We're seeing more of them all the time. This is proof they're evolving – and maybe it's true that this will be over by the end of Autumn.”

  “We can only hope,” Sage replied.

  Just then a woman leaned down from the watch tower. Her hair was short and streaked with blonde, either by bleach or the sun, and she looked tanned as her sun kissed shoulders stood out against her white t shirt.

  “What do we have?” she called down.

  Devan looked up.

  “Small group of travellers – they didn't know about the slowies. There's a small child, been bitten, but not by a rabid.”

  The woman in the watch tower smiled down at the group.

  “I'm Kerry,” she said, just as the gates were opened up and Alice led them through.

  As they walked into an area where a wide path led to a fairground, Kerry leaned over the other side of the tower, tipping a box of gold shredded tinsel over the newcomers.

  “Welcome to your new home, woo hoo!” she yelled excitedly as Chris paused to brush it from his hair and River laughed.

  “We just got showered with glitter!” she told him.

  They bypassed the fairground as Alice led the way. She stopped off at a nearby office and as they waited outside, Devan spoke up.

  “I have to get to the sea wall and check the patrols,” he said, “Sometimes we get zombies wash up on the beach and we don't always get the slow ones. It's better to keep things running tight around here. That's why I run the patrols, I'm good at organising people. I'll catch you later.”

  Then he walked off towards a rising path that led up to the sea wall. As they stood about, Joy looked back at the fairground. She caught a glimpse of people in there, kids on rides, parents watching over them. The place was half empty, but clearly life still went on around here, a slice of normality on what had once been a busy, thriving seaside town that would have been packed with visitors in the old days.

  “I want to ride on the big wheel!” Poppy said.

  “Later,” Sage replied, “We need to settle in first.”

  She paused to look about the place, it seemed friendly enough, but after all they had encountered on their travels, it was hard to turn off the mental red alert. Then Alice returned and paused to look about the group.

  “Okay, what's your preferred living arrangements?”

  “Together,” Joy replied, “We all stay together.”

  Mickey shifted uncomfortably on his stiff leg and as Joy stepped closer, she to
ok Angel from his arms.

  “Thanks,” he replied, giving his weak hand a shake, “My arm was starting to go numb.”

  Just then Angel gave a cough, turned in Joy's arms and threw up, catching her jeans and spattering the path. She looked up at Joy and gave another whine, then settled back into the comfort of Mickey's coat as Joy held her.

  “That was good timing,” Joy remarked as she stood there with vomit dripping off her jeans.

  “I didn't know she was going to do that!” Mickey exclaimed.

  Alice smiled.

  “I bet you two are a couple!”

  “How did you know that?” Mickey asked in surprise.

  She laughed as she shook her head.

  “Lucky guess... now, let me see... you and Mickey need a room and one for the little girl, and...” she looked to Chris and River.

  “We're together,” River said.

  “So that's two couples and two kids and.. you're on your own?”

  Alex nodded.

  “So am I,” added Sage.

  “Right... Give me a minute!” she went back into the office, then returned with a set of keys, “This way,” she said, and led them across the short expanse of green and then across an empty road, indicating to a turning just up ahead where the road widened and led down into what looked to be the start of a town centre.

  “You can have ninety six Beach Close,” she told them as they walked on down the street, “Neighbouring houses are empty, fences are high and we have night patrols in case anything washes up – and you're not far from the town centre – at least, one quarter of it. Some stores that can function still open. The other road leads past more residential homes and the pub is boarded up and shut, so is the wine bar in town because it got raided early on before the barriers went up. Never go past the barriers, they are there for your safety and ours...”

  They had reached the house. She spoke again.

  “Here we are, enjoy your stay in what's left of Wickstall! It's got five bedrooms, you couples have a room each, the kids can share and there's two single rooms too. It's got a big garden with a pool, but don't swim in it – the pool hasn't been cleaned for a year! I'll have someone bring food rations over later. Do you need a medic to come and see Angel? She will be okay, but you might want the reassurance and we do have a lady with medical training but she's fishing today, won't be back until later.”